Fruugo, the rapidy growing global marketplace, appoints Mike Hancox, former CEO of Shop Direct, Otto UK and Ideal Shopping, as Chairman

Fruugo.com, the fast growing global marketplace platform is delighted to announce that Mike Hancox, previously CEO of Ideal Shopping and former CEO of Shop Direct and former CEO of Otto UK (part of the world’s largest home shopping group), has been appointed as Chairman of Fruugo.com Limited.

Soaring revenues and four consecutive years of triple digit revenue growth have led the board of Fruugo to consider the next major steps in Fruugo’s global expansion. The company, recently acclaimed within the UK as the 4th fastest growing tech business in the North.

Hancox says, "I am joining Fruugo at what is an incredibly exciting time for the business. I look forward to leading the already impressive board of Fruugo.com, which is one of the UK’s most dynamic tech growth stories, as we expand our one-stop global marketplace to reach more and more shoppers and retailers all around the world. Cross-border online shopping is seeing extraordinary growth worldwide and Fruugo, with its unique and proprietary global platform, is in a fantastic position to build on its already impressive growth. We already compete with the likes of Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay and Rakuten as we bring more choice to international shoppers".

Meanwhile, Dominic Allonby, CEO and co-founder of Fruugo.com Limited commented,
"The board and shareholders of Fruugo are excited that Mike has accepted this new role. His experience in rapidly scaling ecommerce and international retail businesses makes him the perfect candidate to lead Fruugo’s board going forward, especially as we launch our services in yet more countries around the globe and as we also look at fund raising options to further power our growth in the years ahead".


EDITOR’S NOTE

Fruugo.com is a unique global marketplace in which each shopper, wherever they are in the world, sees everything automatically converted in to their own language and currency. The platform brings together a rapidly growing range of international retailers and ecommerce partners from around the globe to offer over 15 million products from 700 retailers to shoppers in over 30 countries.

Fruugo’s unique one-checkout, fully localised marketplace means shoppers can buy from multiple retailers in multiple countries in one visit and in one transaction – the Fruugo platform makes all calculations and translations in real time. Fruugo is the only marketplace in the world which makes global shopping feel truly local.

Over €40million has been invested in the business to date and the site now attracts over 1 million visitors a week with over 85% of transactions being cross border between multiple territories. Fruugo has an impressive Board and an extensive group of industry leading investors. Directors include Mike Hancox (ex CEO Ideal Shopping), Alan White (ex CEO N Brown Group) and Nick Carter (ex CFO Halfords), all of whom are shareholders in the business. Other shareholders include Lord Stuart Rose (ex Chairman & CEO Marks & Spencer), Angus Monro (ex CEO Matalan) and Barry Gibson (Chairman of Homeserve and ex Group CEO of Littlewoods).

Fruugo is listed as the 4th fastest growing Tech Company in the North over the last 3 years. (Northern Tech Awards "Top 50 Fastest Growing Tech Businesses", March 2018) is now looking at options for raising further significant growth capital during 2019, with the possibility of an eventual IPO also under early discussion.

Dominic Allonby, CEO, can be contacted on dominic.allonby@fruugo.com or 0161 938 0173